"Flying Machine" is a song by British singer

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

, released as a single in June 1971. It peaked at number 37 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, becoming Richard's first UK single to not make the Top 30.

Release

"Flying Machine" was written by Norwegian musician

Georg Kajanus Georg Johan Tjegodiev r TchegodaieffKajanus (born 9 February 1946) is a Norwegian composer and pop musician, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of the British pop group Sailor. Early years Kajanus was born in Trondheim, Norway, to Prin ...

(then known as Georg Hultgreen), who had been a member of

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

band

Eclection Eclection were a British-based folk rock band, originally formed in 1967 in London by Norwegian-born Georg Kajanus (then known as Georg Hultgreen), Canadian Michael Rosen, Australians Trevor Lucas and Kerrilee Male, and Briton Gerry Conway. The ...

and who would go on to be the lead singer of

Sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

. He recorded a demo version on

acetate An acetate is a salt (chemistry), salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. Alkali metal, alkaline, Alkaline earth metal, earthy, Transition metal, metallic, nonmetallic or radical Radical (chemistry), base). "Acetate" als ...

, which Richard listened to and recorded his version in March 1971. It was arranged by and features the orchestra of

Norrie Paramor Norman William Paramor (15 May 1914 – 9 September 1979), known professionally as Norrie Paramor, was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff Ri ...

. Hultgreen also features on Richard's version playing the flute. It was released as a single with the B-side "Pigeon", which was written by

Guy Fletcher Guy Edward Fletcher (born 24 May 1960) is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known for his position as one of the two Keyboard instrument, keyboard players in the rock band Dire Straits from 1984 until the group's dissolution, and his subs ...

and

Doug Flett Douglas Jackson Flett (13 October 1935 – 15 July 2019) was an Australian songwriter based in the UK, best known for his collaborations with longtime songwriting partner, Guy Fletcher. Collectively, the duo have also been known as Fletcher & Fl ...

and features the Nick Ingman Orchestra. Hultgreen recorded his own proper version in 1972 as part of Kajanus Pickett (with

Phil Pickett Philip Stuart Pickett (born 19 November 1946) is an English songwriter, musician, vocal arranger, producer and artist manager. He is principally known as a songwriter and musician and for co-writing and recording "Karma Chameleon", one of the ...

), which was released on their sole album ''Hi Ho SIlver!''. His original demo version was later released on the 2006 album ''Kajanus (Revealed)''.

Track listing

7": Columbia / DB 8797 # "Flying Machine" – 3:02 # "Pigeon" – 2:45

Personnel

– vocals * Georg Hultgreen – flute *

Big Jim Sullivan James George Tomkins (14 February 1941 – 2 October 2012), known professionally as Big Jim Sullivan, was an English musician whose career started in 1958. He was best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was one of t ...

– guitar * Norrie Paramor Orchestra – all other instrumentation

Charts

References

{{authority control Cliff Richard songs 1971 singles 1971 songs Columbia Graphophone Company singles Song recordings produced by Norrie Paramor